Business

By THE BAKERSFIELD CALIFORNIAN

An employee of Greenshops has purchased the store, which had previously announced it would be closing, and plans to keep it open.

Susanne Dilley is taking over the shop at 4821 Stockdale Highway. The boutique sells a wide range of eco-friendly products, from toys that don't have lead paint to allergen-free bedding to non-toxic cleaning products.

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A champagne reception is scheduled for 3 to 6 p.m. Nov. 6 at the store to celebrate. Dilley and former owner Jennifer Jordan will be there.

The Sizzler at 2650 Mt. Vernon Ave. in east Bakersfield reopened with a new, updated look Oct. 24 , taking advantage of an opportunity to remodel after a kitchen fire earlier this year.

The nearly 6,000-square-foot restaurant was badly burned in March after a fire broke out at a deep fryer. The blaze was confined to the kitchen but there was smoke damage throughout the restaurant, causing about $150,000 in damage, the Bakersfield Fire Department said at the time.

The eatery is owned by Temecula-based BMW Management, which runs 24 restaurants across California, including the Mount Vernon and Real Road Sizzlers in Bakersfield. Until about three weeks ago it also operated a Sizzler at the Ice House in Bakersfield, but that location shut down after the company lost its lease.

Because BMW had to repair the Mount Vernon restaurant anyway, it decided to upgrade the location to a "new generation" Sizzler, said vice president of marketing Sally Myers. The eatery now has upgraded craftsman style decor, murals, a "demo" salad bar where guests can watch employees prepare food, and an outdoor barbecue grill for wood-smoked tri-tip, Myers said.

The body of a large paddle-tailed rodent was found early Tuesday in the traffic lanes of southbound Mohawk Street north of Truxtun Avenue, suggesting Bakersfield's fabled bike path beaver -- scourge of local saplings -- may have died.

The lush grasses and sweeps of wildflowers cloak much of the damage to the small canyon in a blanket of ephemeral green. But Ellen Cypher and Erin Tennant can see it as they walk along a sandy route that has been churned into the bottom of the wash by motorcyclists and quad riders.

Even Kern County Supervisor Leticia Perez's self-serving, disingenuous and downright contemptuous ranting against a proposed ban of Piccolo Pete and ground flower-type fireworks wasn't nearly as stunning to me as Supervisor David Couch's silence and eventual vote against the ban.